Saturday was a nice day and we decided to explore. So we headed west to Utah. Arches National Park is in Moab, UT. 100 miles from Grand Junction. Since we are so close to so many National Parks we have bought the National Park Pass. We are going to get our money's worth by going to as many as we can this year.

Jay at the Park Ave Viewpoint and Trailhead.

John with the trail in front of him. We didn't walk it but you can walk through the canyon and be picked up at the next stopping point.Neola

Neola and John at Windows Section

John and Neola with the Balanced Rock behind them.

Jay and Neola at Balance RockJohn and Jay walking up the path to Turret ArchJay and NeolaJohn and Jay at North and South WindowJay on back side

Neola and John Double Arch, alittle walk from parking lot...we will explore it next time. I thought it was cool.

Skyline Arch, you can see from the road.

Neola and Jay with Delicate Arch in the background. We chose to walk to the upper viewpoint. You can hike to it but it is a 3 mile hike and uphill, plus the parking lot was full. Next time.

Jay and John on the trail to Pine Tree Arch.

John and Neola at Pine Tree Arch

Jay and Neola at the Pine Tree Arch...notice how little we are in comparison. Sun was just right to get the tree and us.

Amazing scenery...a camera just can't pick up all the colors!On the way out of the park.

We didn't think to pack a lunch to eat at the park ...like most of the rest of the people there...they had some amazing looking sandwiches....we had water and some dry Nature Valley snack bars that Mark told us were good...none of us really like them...but they held us over till dinner. We ate in Moab at the Moab Brewery, great food..guys had burgers and I had a pasta.

We then took the "Scenic Byway" home along the Colorado River. You wind along the Colorado River Canyon...as you can see from the picture ...red rock!

Spring color is starting to show up with the brown.The boys and ChubbyWeather was beautiful last week...this week is more like winter. We even had snow this morning but it was very wet and the sun came out in the afternoon. More snow expected this week.

Monday, March 23, 2009

John and Mark took and evening and went through the Colorado Monument. They took several of the shorter hikes. Mark looks at it all in two ways, 1) amazing nature, 2) from a rock climbing aspect. John Mark

Mark out on the edge...he told me I didn't want to look down.

Mark with John's shadow in the evening sun. As you can tell it was a warm evening.

Under the rock. He will be back. We went back up the next day and bought the rock climbing book. It shows places to rock climb between Moab and Colorado Monument area.

Jay competed at District Floriculture in Cortez, CO. His team placed first and he won the top individual. He won a belt buckle, Wrangler Jacket, plaque and ribbon. They will compete at State in Fort Collins in May. Here he is with his winnings and the floral arrangement.Jay in his jacket and belt buckle. A new look for him! We had to buy a belt that you can put a buckle on for him.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

As some of you know Chubby has had a difficult time with the changes. We have been to the vet with him already three times in the last month. He has had several tests run, growled at the vet techs, and had an infection on his elbow. We thought he might have teeth problems so we have got him to chew on bones, and changed his dog food. He is 11 years old in June so that equals 77, so he is a grumpy old man ...I guess.

One of the tests the vet wanted was a urine sample...so how do you get one from a male dog? You tape a cup to a stick....take him to a new area....yea you guessed it right and try to catch it in the cup...it was quite a site...Mark leading Chubby and Me following...the mail man had a good laugh!